Why we don’t stick to one periodisation model, and why you probably shouldn’t either

If you came to this blog post looking to have one style of training or your favourite periodisation model being branded as ‘the best’, then I reckon you’ll be bitterly disappointed- so I'll apologise in advance for that!

We’re all faced with an industry that loves to paint big results as being achieved via plenty of shortcuts and singular training or nutrition philosophies, followed by “keep it simple stupid, achieving xyz is easy you just need to do THIS…” and then it reduces complex biological systems down to one statement. Which is pretty comical to me as a scientist!

Performance coaching, in ANY of your chosen avenues, shouldn’t be dogmatic in my opinion. Adapting to the athlete, the sport, the context and the data you have available breeds (see what I did there) those wonderful results that we all wish to see.

There are a lot of issues we face with one size fits all periodisation styles and I'm a huge believer in dogma creating blind spots. Perhaps there’s been a really great response early on with one model? We’ve all seen the “I ran block periodisation for a couple of preps and got great results so that’s my approach”. And that’s really cool, I love that these things are being reviewed and we are able to take note of things that have worked, but that doesn’t mean it’s the answer as you force everyone into that box. Here are a couple observations I've made over the last 10 years, it’s an ever growing list so I won’t bore you with the full whack, but it’s one i’ll almost certainly keep adding to in an attempt to keep developing my own coaching philosophy and ensure I don’t become a dickhead professional who thinks they’ve seen and know it all:

1. Exclusive linear periodisation has a tendency to fry an athlete a little too early as ‘this is the plan’. Intensity starts to get ignored a little as the lifts being performed ‘have to be at this weight’. In general, I believe this approach has to be deployed in athletes that are really good at relaying information.

2. Exclusive conjugate periodisation can be very easily miscommunicated, it is up to you to ensure the athlete understands the intention of the session and as a coach, you understand that the model may require tweaking in order to provide the appropriate volumes/intensities to develop certain stimuli.

3. Exclusive block periodisation can often fall into the trap of hypertrophy -> strength -> peaking loops. Often I've found that energy systems can become neglected and an emphasis on structural balance is sometimes lost along the way.  I’ve also found that many athletes become incredibly dependent on that model and hugely struggle to deviate from phases that push the elements they desperately need!

If we allow a model to exclusively dictate the work an athlete needs, then we’re no longer looking at the whole picture. Disregarding variables that don’t ‘fit’, by definition means we are deciding to make every athlete the same nail, because we’ve only got one hammer.

Within strength training, the ability to consider and enhance three key biological systems is PARAMOUNT. 

1. The muscular system, with this we’re talking about force production, leverage and hypertrophy responses primarily. 

2. The neurological system, i’m predominantly referring to rate coding (pretty much the speed of nerve impulse and it’s relationship with the brain) and motor unit recruitment. 

3. The circulatory system, pretty much responsible for the conditioning aspects of strength sports but also recovery capacity.

Synthesising these three systems allows us to really regard someone as an athlete, rather than just cramming ideals into a box because you want someone to do it your way and don’t fancy doing any additional work towards it. 

Periodisation models are tools that we can use to our advantage, not holy grails man. Learn from them, implement them and tweak them, but don’t fucking worship them.

You wouldn’t go jogging in a squat suit so we don’t see why that means we should force every athlete through the same programming!

Respect the biology, drop the dogma a bit and save yourself from becoming that dickhead that refuses to see that there may be better ways to do things, that encompasses everything we’ve been lucky enough to learn since sport began.